Secrets
by Neonxra
Summary: April's best friend Maxime Stan moves back from Ireland. She instantly makes new friends and even starts to fall in love again after her relationship ended. But how can she get a relationship if none knows about her big secrets that affects her entire family?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my newest story! First of all some background information about my OC, Max. This story is told in her POV. Enjoy!**

 _Maxime Nicole Stan is a 16 year old teenager from Ireland. She moved to America around age 2. There she became friends with April O'Neil. Around age 11 she was forced to move back to Ireland due to her father's work. But with some convincing by her and her older sister, she and Miranda, who has aspirations of becoming a movie star, are back in America._

 _Max is also carrying a secret from not only her dearest friend, but also from her newest friends as well. One that is going to haunt her, even in New York._

 **Chapter One  
New York 2018**

I never expected to see April again. Sure, she had been my friend since we were, I believe 3 or something, but you never know with long distance friendships. But I was finally going to see her again. Now that we, meaning me and my sister Miranda were back in New York, it seemed like yesterday we left. It even felt like we never left.

We finally arrived at our appartment. The building seemed in a pretty good state. Miranda handeled finances so she choose the building. I raised an eyebrow at it though, something was bothering me. Miranda might've been in charge of the finances, she wasn't always good with other people. Meaning, I might not even have a room.

"Mim", I said.

Miranda swung around, her blonde hair waving after her body. She definitely dyed it. She denied it to anyone who asks, but we're siblings and the rest of our siblings, alongside our _entire_ family had dark-or lighter brown hair. But she had this idea that being blonde made you more like an actrice, so here we are.

"Yes?", she asked. I grabbed my bags and walked with her toward the entrance of the building. "I appreciate you getting us a place to live and all.. but..", I started. Miranda dropped her bags on the stairs and grabbed her keys out of her jacket pocket. "But what?", she snarled. Yep, definitely in that mood again. "Maxie, of course I've thought about my little sister!", she said.

She grabbed her bags and literally kicked the door in. I sighed and walked behind her, taking the time to close the door by setting my bags down and using my hands to close the door. Miranda always had a knack for the dramatics.

Our appartment was on the second floor. It was a pretty spacious room, with an open living kitchen area. On the left and right were a total of three doors. Two bedrooms and one bathroom. I immediately made a mental note to wake up early tomorrow, since Miranda liked hogging the bathroom for at least an hour. My brothers and I once tried to convince her that she didn't need all that stuff to be pretty. But.. to no avail.

Miranda went into the room on the right and closed the door behind her. "Well, guess that's her room, then", I shrugged and went into the room on the left. It wasn't the widest room, but it was a pretty long room with one huge window that led to the fire-escape.

I took a glance around the room. It had a good bed, a desk with chair and a closet. I grabbed my bag I left near the door and started to unpack my clothes, hanging them in the closet. While I was busy, my phone started ringing. It was either my brothers, my other sister, my parents or April. I finished with my favorite shirt and ran over to my bag.

The lit up screen showed April's name. I smiled and slid the green icon to the left to answer. "Max! I heard you were in New York!", April said excitedly. I sat down on the bed, looking at the white wall. I really need to paint this room. "Yeah, just arrived in our new appartment. You know Miranda and finding places right?", I said. On the other side of the line I heard a few other people and April hushing them. "Friends?", I asked. April made an agreeing sound. "Actually, they want to meet you", I groaned a bit. I was social, just not that social to meet random strangers my friends know. Besides I _just_ moved in here.

"Max, come on. You'll never meet people with an attitude like that", April said, "Hold on, I have to use the bathroom!",

I rolled my eyes. I let myself rest my head on my pillow and murmerd: "Stupid bathroom breaks".

I heard a chuckle coming from the other side of the line, one that was a few tones lower than April's voice. "You seriously just said that?", it questioned. Well, not to assume genders or anything, but 'it' seemed like a 'he'. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. 16 years old and still saying that. Got a problem?", I asked. Again a chuckle. "Not at all, I'm impressed so far",

I sat up on my bed with my eyebrows furrowed. What the hell was this person on? And most importantly, who was he?

"So you're coming over tonight?", he asked me. This time it was me who was chuckling. "Are you asking me out, mystery man?", I joked. "It's Leo, so no mystery man for you and it depends.. if you want to meet us tonight or not",

In the background I heard some other guy cheering, must've been his friend or something. This made the invitation a little bit more fun. Ever since I broke it off with my boyfriend of 4 years, Nathan, I have been looking for someone. Maybe not a relationship, but I do lack the company. "Max, are you still there? I'm sorry, I must've left my phone on the table while I was to the bathroom", April said to me. I blinked. Where did that guy go? "Yeah it's fine. You know what April? I'll meet those friends of yours", I said. April made a happy sound.

"Great! I'll pick you up around 7, we'll need to take a special route to get there", she said and hung up. I smiled at the phone screen but was still a little confused. What kinda special route did she mean? I snapped my fingers. I had about 1,5 hour and needed a dress. I got up from my bed and walked over to the livingroom. Miranda was sitting on the couch watching some sort of soap tv show I had no idea about.

"Mim, I'm going out tonight, I'm meeting April and some of her friends.. So...", before I could finish my question, Miranda jumped off the couch and smiled at me. "You need a dress!", she said. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into her bedroom.

This was going to take a while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back!**

 **Chapter Two  
New York 2018**

The evening was just right. It was a comfortable temperature with a slight wind. I did wore a vest over my dress. It was a dark brown off shoulder coloured, knee high dress. It luckily didn't show anything so I wouldn't look like some sort of sex worker. Nothing wrong with that profession, just wasn't my thing. My curly hair was straightend and Miranda had applied make up. I barely wore that, but right now it seemed appropriate. All in all, she did a great job.

I was most curious about this Leo fellow. He seemed rather nice. But it did bother me about the special route we had to take. Something seemed a bit off about all of this. As long as April didn't join a weird cult or any cult for that matter, I'd be fine.

April waited for me in the alleyway nearby my house. I frowned when I saw her opening a sewer lid. I dressed up nicely to drag myself through the sewers? "April... are you sure you haven't lost your mind or something?", I asked her. April shook her head and gestured for me to enter. I was reluctant, but I decided, why not, those people hopefully have a shower were I to get really dirty.

After about 15 minutes we arrived at a large door. It seemed like a garage door, but far more advanced. Someone in here sure knew a thing or two about technology. April pushed a code in the codepad next to the door and it opened. Rather slowly. It revealed some sort of lair. It looked pretty impressive, but it really pegged the question, who or _what_ lived here?

April lead the way in and we were greeted by a gaint rat. My eyes widen in shock. In front of me was an actual giant rat. I blinked a few times. This seemed surreal. April nudged me in my side. "Max, this is master Splinter, he's a mutant", I glanced over at April. She wasn't kidding. "Uhm, it's an honor to meet you, sir", I said. Splinter showed somewhat of a smile. He seemed nice enough, but man. I just had so many questions.

"Any friend of April is a friend of ours", another voice joined the conversation. This time it was a turtle with an orange bandana. Turtles and a rat? How... unusual. The mutant part was already strange, but they talk and act humane. Well, they seemed friendly and I wasn't exactly picky on friends these days.

"So you're the girl April was talking to on the phone", the turtle walked over toward me and held out his three digit hand. I shook it and was kinda surprised at how human-like it felt.

"I'm Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey", he introduced himself. I raised an eyebrow at that name. "That's quite the uncommon name", I remarked. Splinter gave a slight nod. "I named my sons after the most important artists of the renaissance", he explained. So, if he named them all after them, that must've meant he had four sons.

Before I knew it, three other turtles showed up in front of me. So, one of them had to be Leo. They each had signature colours. Which actually made telling them apart a lot easier. "Allow me to introduce my brothers", Mikey said. He patted the one in red on the shoulder, he instantly didn't seem to happy about it. "This big, mean and green is called Raphael",

Raphael gave me a short nod. Mikey went on to the one in purple. "This is the brainiac of the group and his name is Donatello", he said. Donatello smiled and gave a short wave. Mikey jumped over to the last one, which must've been Leo. He kept his gaze on me at all times. I don't know why, but I did kinda feel.. attracted to him or something. There was certainly something about him that intriged me.

"This is Leo, our fearless leader", Mikey said, ending the introductions. I showed a short smile and Leo did the same. Mikey raised an eyebrow and walked over to me. "C'mon, I'll show you our wonderful lair!", he said and grabbed my underarm, pulling me with him. While we walked away from our company, I exchanged glances with April, who showed me a sympathetic smile. Either Mikey was boring or a chatterbox. I was about to find out which one it was.

Turned out Mikey was one of the greatest guys I've met in a long time. Sure, he talked a lot, but he kept it interesting and fun. He even knew his way around jokes. When we came to the dining area, my nose picked up a really nice smell. "Is that.. Japanese?", I asked. "Yeah, master Splinter is from Japan and raised us as such. So it's quite common for us to eat that", Donnie explained. "Though we do love pizza!", Mikey chimed in. I giggled and sat down at the table and smiled. "It smells great", I said. Leo just walked out with a huge pot full of noodles, marinated with all sorts of vegetables and meat.

"Thanks, I've tried my best", he said and smiled at me. Man.. okay, that smile was adorable. I leaned into my hand that rested with my arm on the table. April noticed and nudged me in my side. I blinked and realised how I must've looked. I coughed in my hand and decided to let it slide. "Wait, you barely cook?", I asked. Leo took a seat, right across from me and gave a nod. "We take turns though, but Mikey spends the most time in the kitchen, since he enjoys it the most", he explained. That actually took me a bit by surprise. Mikey didn't really seem like a chef. But hey, don't judge a book by it's cover when you've known it for like 30 minutes.

"So, your accent's not really American, is it?", Raph asked me. I giggled lightly. "I'm Irish, that's why I don't sound like an American",

Raph grinned at me. He kinda seemed like the type to first hate your guts, then like you for the awesome person you are. I smiled back at him. "And for the record, I can drink a lot", I noted. April rolled her eyes at me. It used to be an attempt to impress guys I was into. Right now it was just to avoid stereotypes. "Though not all Irish' can. Sure we have a high tolerence, but that doesn't make us alcoholics".

"Bad experiences with stereotypes there, Max?", Donnie asked. I chuckled and gave a nod. "Kinda",

Dinner was amazing! It really surprised me how well I liked it. I never had anything like this before. Sure, I had noodles, but not like this.

While the others were watching tv with Splinter, I went into the kitchen. Leo was there on his own washing dishes. "Need some help?", I asked. Leo looked over his shoulder and smiled at me. "No need, you're our guest..", he said. I smiled and grabbed a dishcloth. "Nonsense! I have a feeling I'm going to come here a lot more often. You guys are great", I said and started drying the plates Leo already washed.

"Thanks. You're not to bad, either", he said. That made me laugh. "Seriously? You get 'great' and I get 'not bad'?", I said when Leo gave me a puzzled look. Leo looked away from me and laughed a little as well. "Sorry", he said. I shrugged it off. "It's okay, you've only known me for like..", I took a quick peak at my watch, "An hour or two",

We both shared a little laugh. "I've never really done something like this", Leo said. I raised an eyebrow. "Just sort of ask a girl out like that. I mean, you didn't even know me and yet you still agreed to meet us", he explained, "I did kinda like how you random just said that".

A smile formed on my lips and I placed one of the plates atop the other ones and grabbed a new one. "Yeah, I was pretty annoyed with it. When we were little, bathroom breaks were April's thing.. so to speak. Also when she wanted to avoid awkward conversations and left it to me", I explained. Somehow it made me a slight bit embarressed. How could I simply say it like this, now I sounded like some sort of weirdo, throwing that out there about our mutual friend. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Leo doing the same. I quickly glanced back at the plate and Leo did the same. Neither of us spoke for the majority of the washing now.

I placed the last dry plate onto the rest and placed the towel on the counter. I took a look at the plates. "Where do these go?", I wondered. Leo grabbed them without answering me. He must've realised that it made him look like a bit of a douche, since he shyly said; "Up here".

My eyes wandered up and I laughed a little. "Sorry, that's indeed where plates most of the time go",

Leo placed the plates in the cupboard before looking at me again. "It's fine, it's already nice enough of you to help me", he said to me. I smiled and looked over my shoulder. April was talking to Donnie. She did seem to like him alot. I walked over to the doorframe and leaned against it. April seemed really content with her friends here.

"You don't seem bothered at all that we're mutants", Leo suddenly asked me. It hadn't even really occured to me, sure, I noticed and it was very unusual. But I know April doesn't randomly hangs out with people. Besides, I _certainly_ wasn't one to judge. "I have faith in April and well, you guys are friendly", I simply shrugged, "Then you're okay in my book",

Leo smiled a genuine smile at me and honestly, it made me blush a bit. Man, this was so odd, falling for someone who wasn't even human. Well, there were those crushes on fictional characters, don't judge.

A loud noise made me jump, but Leo just laughed at me. "That was Raph going after Mikey again", he told me. I looked at him in surprise. Then I hung my shoulders.

"Why am I surpised? I have three brothers who do this to each other", I sighed, "Three brothers?", Leo asked. I gave a nod, "And two older sisters, six siblings in total and I'm the youngest",

Leo's face actually made me laugh. He seemed super surprised. I only had one more sibling than he did. "Fun fact; my mother named my brothers after the weather condition they were born in", I said. Leo raised his eye ridges in surpise. "Thunder, Storm and Lightning", I counted on my fingers. Part of me expected Leo to just laugh in my face, but instead, he seemed to think about it, then nodded.

"Sounds cool, to be honest", he admitted. I shrugged, "honestly, naming your children after the painters of the renaissance is also pretty cool",

Leo smiled and watched as Raph walked into the living area again with a huge smile on his face. I've seen that look on a guys face when I saw my brothers fighting. Raph won. This actually made me question something. I crossed my arms and glanced over at Leo, who noticed my look and glanced my way as well.

"Who of you is the oldest?",

Leo grinned at me, which made him even cuter, _J_ _esus Max_! _Control yourself!_ He pointed his thumb towards himself. "I'm the oldest, then Raph, Donnie and last Mikey", he said. April walked over to us and smiled. "Hey, I see you two are getting along well",

My face turned red and I coughed in my hand. Leo also seemed a bit.. flustered. April raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Yeah! He's really nice", I said as to not raise to much suspicion. Which obviously failed, since April smiled at me knowingly. She grabbed my arm. "You should really talk to Donnie", she told me. I looked at her pretty confused. "Donnie is also very technical".

That peaked my interest. I've always fixed cars and other electronics with my brother Thunder. It's nice to meet someone else who also is quite technical. You can always learn more. As April suggested, I made my way over to Donnie, who was underneath their.. car. I think they would call it more something like a monster truck.

"Hi Donnie", I greeted. The welding sound stopped and Donnie appeared from under the wagon. He placed his welding goggles on top of his head and smiled at me. "Hi Max, how can I help you?", he asked me. I blinked and took a good look at the machine/car in front of me. "Amazing huh?", Donnie said, standing next to me, "I made her myself",

My eyebrows raised in surprise. "You.. made this all by yourself?".

Donnie nodded and placed his hands on his sides. "Yep, I'm quite technical if I say so myself", he said and he sounded almost confident.

Almost.

I looked at him and smiled. Donnie seemed like one of the sweetest guys you'd ever meet in your life. The more I spoke to him, the more I realized that everyone in their life needed a Donnie. He was very sweet and caring, yet confident in what he knew he could do. But he would never brag about it. All in all, amazing guy.

"So Max", Donnie started, "What do you think of us?".

That question took me by surprise, since it seemed obvious that I thought they were great. Such hospitality. You'd expect them half to hate humans, but they even had more manners than most humans I met all together.

"I'm surprised you need to ask", I admitted, "You guys are great",

Before Donnie could say anything else, April came over to tell me she was going home. "I'm sure they'd let you stay here, but I think you would prefer your own bed", April announced to me. I gave her a puzzeled look, but the others chuckled, knowing what she was talking about. Mikey swung an arm over my shoulder before whispering to me; "Raph kinda snores like a chainsaw".

It made me laugh a little as I could imagine such a thing. Well, as much as I would've loved to sleep there, I mean, spending more time with Leo? Sure thing. Immediately I could bash my own skull in for thinking that. What was it about him that attracted me so much? No guy in our community in Ireland, not even Nathan, had intrigued me as much as he did. And the mutant part didn't even do it. It was his whole... being I guess.

"Yeah", I yawned, "Let's go home".

April and I made our way toward their.. front door? Well, it was an old train station so it didn't really had a front door. But you know what I mean. Before we walked off, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Leo. "Here", he said and handed me a paper with a phone number on it. I quirked my eyebrow up. At the same time, a small smirk appeared on my lips. I knew _exactly_ who's number this was. "Afraid you're never going to see me again?", I teased him. Leo seemed a bit embarrased. "It seemed easier, in case of trouble, you can always call me", he said and I took the paper.

"Thanks Leo", I said and took a step toward him. When he didn't move I kissed him on the cheek. "And thanks for tonight".

After that whole scene I ran after April, who went ahead toward the manhole cover to the surface. I really wanted to go home, I was exhausted. It was great meeting the guys, but man, I just moved here today.

I finally caught up to April, who couldn't stop smiling at me. I tilted my head and gave her a confused look. "What?", I asked her. April looked ahead of her, still with that awful smile on her face. She used to do this when we were kids. Whenever she knew something I didn't, she'd give me that look. But after a few years, I got tired of it, like right now. "Okay. Spill it, O'Neill, why are you smiling so wide your jaws are going to break?", I asked her.

April kept her smile on as she finally told me. "You and Leo", she said and it told me enough. I bet not only she noticed me crushing a bit hard on him. "Uhm.. yeah", I rubbed the back of my neck. "You have a crush on him!", she told me. I sighed. There was no use denying my attraction to him. I mean, has she never seen his eyes? And his whole personality was great.

"I don't know", I said. April showed me her usual smile. "You two would make a great couple, he needs someone as energetic as you. And you definately need someone who can see reason like he does. Do you remember when kids used to bully us?", she asked me. Of course I did. Some mean girls used to like pull pranks on us that were, thinking back, totally lame. Not funny at all. So one day, I had enough of it. I actually ended punching someone in the face. Really hard.

April was right, as usual. I did need someone to calm me down. I guess that temper is in my nature.

"You're right, _again_ ", I groaned. April laughed at my expression. She swung her arm around my shoulder. "We'll visit them again after school tomorrow", she assured me. I really tried to hide my interest, but to no avail.

I was crushing hard on someone, who might not even like me when they know the truth. Hell, not even April knew.


End file.
